In how many ways can we form a nondegenerate triangle by choosing three distinct numbers from the set {1, 2, 3, 4, 5} as the sides?
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We need our three numbers a , b , c to satisfy the triangular inequalities:
a + b > c
b + c > a
c + a > b
We can see that none of the numbers can be equal to 1 , since this would infer (setting a = 1 ) that b + 1 > c and c + 1 > b which is impossible for distinct integers b , c . The remaining combinations to check are:
( 2 , 3 , 4 ) : valid;
( 2 , 3 , 5 ) : invalid (this gives you a degenerate triangle, since 2 + 3 = 5 );
( 2 , 4 , 5 ) : valid;
( 3 , 4 , 5 ) : valid.
Hence we are left with 3 possible triangles.